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Fortunately for us, he failed to make sure the locker room doors were completely shut.

“We’re getting outworked, out-executed, out-passioned, out-every-f---in’ thing,” he screamed, while the 24/7 cameras peered through a crack in the door, showing Nazem Kadri with his head in his hands. Carlyle proceeded to drop seven more f-bombs over the next 20 seconds before exasperatedly proclaiming: “We suck!”

Toronto’s ornery bench boss would presumably have felt better about his team’s effort over its next three games — a trio of shootouts, one win and a pair of losses — but in general the Leafs are still stuck in a protracted slide.

They have just one regulation win in their last 18 games. That’s a stretch of more than 20 per cent of the season with just a single 60-minute victory.

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Through 39 games this year they have 41 points, seven fewer than they had after 39 games in last year’s strike-shortened season and two fewer than they had after 39 games in 2011-12.

Their December schedule has been a grind, for sure, but this is not how the Leafs had hoped to head into next Wednesday’s Winter Classic spectacle.

In their second-last indoor contest before the big game at The Big House in Ann Arbour, Mich., the Leafs will take on the last-place Buffalo Sabres, who own an abysmal 3-12-1 road record this year. Typically, the lowly Sabres would be a welcome visitor for a struggling team, but Buffalo has won three of its last four games and defeated the Leafs in two of three games this year. Goalie Ryan Miller is expected to get the start at the Air Canada Centre on Friday and he has 31 career wins and a sparkling .922 save percentage against Toronto over his career.

The Leafs will be looking to pick up some kind of Miley Cyrus momentum at home Friday and Sunday before heading across the border for what should be a snowy Original Six matchup. Here’s a look at some of the reasons they’ve been stuck on the schneid.

Giveaways

Part of the Leafs’ puck-possession problem has to do with the frequency with which they cough it up. So far this year they have 465 giveaways, 32 more than any other team and three times (!) as many as St. Louis, who has made the fewest turnovers. The Leafs have the sixth-most takeaways with 275, but that itself is an indicator of a lack of puck possession. Same goes for their league-leading 1,325 hits (if you had the puck, you wouldn’t have to make the hit). Another reason why they struggle to control the puck is their lousy record in the faceoff circle. They’ve won just 46.8 per cent of their draws this year, fifth-worst in the league.

Shots against

Aside from the daily Jonathan Bernier-James Reimer No. 1 goalie “controversy,” the most-talked-about topic for the Leafs this season has been the unsustainable number of shots they allow per game. The Leafs have allowed an average of 36.1 shots against per game, tops in the league. Meanwhile, they produce just 27 shots on goal per game, third-lowest in the league. On Monday they were outshot 43-26 by the New York Rangers, who eventually won in shootout. Most observers pointed to the team’s shot totals as the reason the Leafs could not sustain their early-season surge. Three months into the season, they’re being proved right.

Shootouts

Despite losing their last two games via the shootout, Leaf shooters have actually fared better than most teams in the extra-point skills competition this year. Their 43.5 shooting percentage is fourth best in the league. But the Leafs have lost in the shootout almost as many times as they’ve won (they’re 5-for-9). That’s because their goaltending has been subpar. Reimer and Bernier’s combined .600 save percentage in shootouts is sixth-worst in the league. Bernier, who has been in net for six of the Leafs’ nine shootouts, has been particularly bad. His .500 save percentage in shootouts is third-worst among goalies who have faced at least 10 shots. But how many of those games would have ended in regulation if not for Bernier or Reimer?

The Dave Bolland effect

Centre Dave Bolland, who remains out indefinitely with a left-ankle laceration, was one of the major bright spots in the season’s early going. He compiled six goals and four assists in his first 14 games while averaging more than 16 minutes a night. The team’s record with the two-time Stanley-Cup champion in the lineup is 10-4-0 (not including the loss to Vancouver when he was injured), while their record without him is 8-12-5.

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